The Last Click attribution model gives 100% of the credit for a conversion to the last-clicked ad. This is the simplest attribution model to understand and calculate, but it can be misleading. For example, if a customer sees an ad for your product on social media, then visits your website and makes a purchase after clicking on an ad in Google Ads, the Google Ads ad will get all the credit for the conversion, even though the social media ad played an important role in the customer’s journey.
Data-driven attribution (DDA) uses historical conversion data to determine how much credit to give to each touchpoint in the customer journey. This is a more accurate way to measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, because it takes into account all of the interactions that a customer has with your brand before they convert.If you’re only focused on conversions, DDA is a better attribution model than last click. However, it’s important to note that DDA can be more complex to understand and calculate.
About data-driven attribution
Before making a purchase or completing another valuable action on your website, people may click or interact with several of your ads. Typically, all credit for the conversion is given to the last ad that customers interacted with. But was it really that ad that made them decide to choose your business?
Data-driven attribution gives credit for conversions based on how people engage with your various ads and decide to become your customers. It uses data from your account to determine which keywords, ads and campaigns have the greatest impact on your business goals. Data-driven attribution looks at website, shop visit and Google Analytics conversions from Search (including Shopping), YouTube, Display and Discovery ads.This article explains data-driven attribution. To learn more about attribution models in general, or to learn how to select an attribution model for your conversion actions, read About attribution models.
Benefits
- Learn which keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns play the biggest role in helping you reach your business goals.
- Optimise your bidding based on your specific account’s performance data.
- Choose the right attribution model for your business, without guesswork.
How it works
Data-driven attribution is different from the other attribution models in that it uses your conversion data to calculate the actual contribution of each ad interaction across the conversion path. Each data-driven model is specific to each advertiser.Data-driven attribution looks at all the interactions – including clicks and video engagements – on your search (including Shopping), YouTube, display and Discovery ads in Google Ads. By comparing the paths of customers who convert to the paths of customers who don’t, the model identifies patterns among those ad interactions that lead to conversions. There may be certain steps along the way that have a higher probability of leading a customer to complete a conversion. The model then gives more credit to those valuable ad interactions on the customer’s path.This means that when you’re evaluating conversion data, you’ll see which ads have the greatest effect on your business goals. And, if you use an automated bid strategy to drive more conversions, your bidding will use this important information to help you get more conversions.
Example
You own a tour company in Melbourne, and you use conversion tracking to track when customers purchase tickets on your website. In particular, you have one conversion action to track purchases of a bike tour in St Kilda. Customers often click a few of your ads before deciding to purchase a ticket.
Your data-driven attribution model finds that customers who click your ‘Bike tour Melbourne’ ad first and then later click ‘Bike tour St Kilda waterfront’ are more likely to purchase a ticket than users who only click on ‘Bike tour St Kilda waterfront’. So the model redistributes credit in favour of the ‘Bike tour Melbourne’ ad and its associated keywords, ad groups and campaigns.
Now, when you look at your reports, you have more complete information about which ads are most valuable to your business.
Depending on data availability, the last click and data-driven attribution models can have the same results in certain situations.For more detailed information on how data-driven attribution works, download the Data-driven attribution methodology PDF (which is only available in English).
Data requirements
Most conversion actions are eligible for data-driven attribution, regardless of conversion or interaction volume. Only eligible conversion actions can be upgraded to data-driven attribution.Some types of conversion action need at least 300 conversions and 3,000 ad interactions in supported networks within 30 days to be eligible. Once you’re using data-driven attribution for these types of conversion actions, you won’t be able to continue using this model if your data drops below 2,000 ad interactions in supported networks or below 200 conversions for the conversion action within 30 days. You’ll receive an alert when your data drops below this level.
After 30 days of continued low data, your conversion action will be switched to the ‘Last click’ attribution model. If the decrease in data is unexpected, you may want to check your conversion tracking tag, the status on your ‘Conversion actions’ page, your conversion action settings and other account settings to make sure that everything is working properly.If data-driven attribution isn’t available for a particular conversion action, select one of the other attribution models.
How to set up data-driven attribution for your conversions
Note: The instructions below are part of a new Google Ads user experience that will launch for all advertisers in 2024. If you’re still using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.Data-driven attribution is the default attribution model for most conversion actions. Follow the instructions below to update an existing conversion action’s attribution model to ‘Data-driven’:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Goals icon
.
- Click the Conversions drop-down in the section menu then click Summary.
- In the table, click the conversion action that you want to edit, then click Edit settings.
- Select Data-driven from the ‘Attribution model’ drop-down menu.
- Click Save, then click Done.
Tip: You can also update your attribution model from the ‘Overview’ attribution report, located in Tools > Attribution. Click the ‘Upgrade to data-driven attribution’ banner at the top of the page and follow the instructions. Learn more about best practices when switching to data-driven attribution.
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6394265?hl=en-AU&sjid=16035440363990983870-NA
